Effective Communication in the Workplace

Communication in the workplace is essential for productivity and performance. Like a sports team, each team member should be on the same wavelength when it comes to reaching optimal performance. Some key skills required for communication include trust, mutual respect, receptiveness to other ideas, listening, and willingness to initiate conversation. Establishing standard expectations for each team member can help promote consistent results. So, what does it take to build a company culture of effective communication?

Accountability

To keep each other accountable, planning daily, weekly, and monthly meetings is a great opportunity to discuss improvement areas. This also gives the team a chance to celebrate successes and encourage each other to keep pushing forward despite any obstacles or challenges encountered on a project. It’s also equally important for teams to utilize effective performance measurement metrics by collecting relevant data that can be compared in future meetings.

A dedicated individual or group should hold the responsibility of delegating and communicating news, updates, content, and assignments to the rest of the team. This responsibility is usually left with management or the public relations department.

Collaboration

Communication and trust are built over time as colleagues spend time in collaboration. Communication is the foundation and link between all aspects of an organization. This includes upper management and their team. Companies may communicate collaboratively through numerous mediums and platforms, including text messaging applications, email, skype, zoom, or in person.

Collaboratively working on various tasks and projects presents a unique opportunity for employees to understand how other people work and practice how to communicate on an individual level with each person. This way, when hurdles are encountered, a team is better equipped to deal with challenges as they arise.

After all, it’s impossible to read a team member’s mind if their emotions, opinions, and expertise are not communicated or shared. Good communication is based on 80% listening and 20% speaking. The deeper the team’s understanding of each other’s needs, the better they can get through work issues.

Leadership

Having a leader make important decisions and communicate those decisions to employees is essential to organizational structure. A good leader needs to take responsibility for good and bad performance, taking the initiative to create new solutions to allow the rest of the team to focus on their core tasks.

Poor communication in an organization may result in gaps or inconsistencies in performance. Poor communication may be caused by a lack of information between different departments and lead to a non-trusting environment. Job duties and responsibilities should aim to be as clear and precise as possible to avoid uncertainties and ambiguity.

Strong communication is a significant determining factor in an organization’s foundation and long-term performance. Information and knowledge need to be shared amongst the entire team to understand the overall bigger picture and its true mission. When building a team, hiring like-minded individuals who are great listeners and who will contribute their expertise is key to the company’s overall success. Creating a fun and trusting environment will enable more vital communication skills.